Five Days of Darkness by J.J. Michael

Five Days of Darkness by J.J. Michael

The last several years had been tough for Serenity Rankin. She knew marrying Jack was going to be difficult. She was black, and a Democrat; Jack was white, rich and a Republican, working for the most powerful Senator on the Hill. They were in love. Then Jack deserted her, leaving her to care for their autistic son, Charlie, who was no ordinary child. Determined to save her marriage and get help for Charlie, Serenity sets out to find Sophia, the mysterious healer of a subculture group, Unity for Oneness (UFO), who she believes is her only salvation. Little did Serenity know that she was being caught up in the biggest chess game of life.

They were an ordinary family that found themselves caught up in the biggest chess game of life. On the run for their lives they must rely on their autistic child, Charlie, with his special gifts to lead them through a quagmire of experiences to find the mysterious healer and leader Sophia, of Unity for Oneness (UFO), whom they believe is their only salvation. The family must choose between remaining in the ignorance of illusions or experiencing the painful truth of reality. Purchase copies on Amazon today: http://amzn.to/T2UirL

SerenityDay 1, Spring 2015

Blinking back tears, I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. The past came floating back into my memory. It was as if the trip to The Dome had happened yesterday. I wanted to push the memory away and never think about it again. But as I lay in bed bits and pieces kept surfacing in my mind: Ms. Lillian’s thin pale face, her thick accent, the Devil card and the dream. I don’t think she fully explained what it all meant. It was if she wanted to get rid of us after I told her about the snake in my dream. Enough, I told myself. Let that experience go. It was just another one of Melissa’s ways to try and help me. Besides, Melissa told me Ms.Lillian had passed away soon after I had that reading.

I slowly sat up on the edge of the bed and looked at my long slim fingers. The flower design that my manicurist had labored to paint on my nails weeks ago was just about gone and the deep rich pink polish was chipped. It was hit and miss with me when it came to scheduling manicure appointments. Drop in appointments worked better. I could only show up at the nail shop when my hands felt okay. Today I would do them myself. There was no way I could sit in the chair for an hour while she massaged my hands, and then filed and polished my nails.

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes again as I felt that first sting that could easily turn into a burning inferno. I quietly opened my night table drawer and took out a bottle of pain killers. After my son Charlie was diagnosed with autism, the burning had intensified and my doctor told me it was stress and anxiety. The medical tests showed no medical reason for the burning. He gave me two prescriptions, one for pain and the other anxiety. Before leaving his office, he handed me a referral to a therapist, which I immediately trashed.

My husband, Jack, works for Senator Richard Percy Windham and someday hopes to run for a public office himself. We had to live an impeccable life. Seeing a therapist would be a mark on his clean record. We couldn’t give the opposition something to use again him. I had the pain killer prescription filled and pretended that life was wonderful. I lived in a make believe world that resembled so much of the life of the beloved sitcom character Clair Huxtable.

With pill bottle now in hand, I slowly and quietly eased myself off the bed. Charlie was sleeping in a fetal position in the middle of it. I had been promising myself to break him out of waking up in the middle of the night and climbing into bed with us. I haven’t made much progress with that.

I could hear Jack’s deep voice telling me, “We have to do something about his screaming and jumping in our bed at night. Isn’t there something they can give him to calm him down?”

“We had this conversation before Jack. I’m not going to drug him.”

After several heated conversations about Charlie, Jack began to randomly sleep in the guest bedroom.

Taking another look at Charlie, I took a deep breath and thought about doing my yoga exercises to alleviate some of the pain and stress I was feeling, but it was too late. I had too much to do before Charlie woke up.

Tip toeing across the hardwood floors, I followed my basic routine of stopping at the window to get an idea of the weather for the day. It was 7 a.m. and the sun was breaking through the clouds. I looked around at the other houses and noticed that many of the lawns needed cutting. The grass had grown due to a week of rain. The landscaper would come this weekend to work on the front and back yard. We lived in a four bedroom house in Montgomery County Maryland, one of the riches counties in the country.

When the realtor showed us the house, we knew immediately it was for us. The kitchen was large with all stainless steel appliances and marble counter tops. On the first floor level, besides the formal dining area and living room, we also had a family room adjacent to the kitchen, a library, an office and a powder room. We controlled all the appliances and security with our home computer and cell phones. But my favorite place was my ensuite bathroom that had ceramic floor and wall tiles, two matching sink faucets, a glass enclosed shower and large Jacuzzi tub. The bonus was the two his and her walk-in custom made closets. We had four bedrooms and two full baths on the second level. One of the reasons we brought the house was because of the fireplace in the master bedroom and one in the family room, the pool and Japanese garden. It had everything; and twice a week I had a housekeeper come in and take care of the cleaning and grocery shopping. Our two families celebrated Thanksgiving Day at our house. Jack and I had brought the house because we wanted to have at least three to four kids, but after Charlie’s diagnosis we let that dream go.

I fumbled around in my closet for a few minutes before selecting a black jacket, slacks and beige blouse. I decided to dress it up with gold earrings and chain. Clair would love this outfit.

Thirty minutes later I was sitting in my home office that used to be a bedroom. I could work in my office and be close to Charlie at night. Jack had the office on the first floor.

I waved my hand over the power button for the T.V. to come on. I could also check my email, surf the net, control the house security system, and have webinar presentations with my students when I couldn’t attend class.

I delved into the search engine for updated information on the Unity for One Movement (UFO), a sub group of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and Sophia, the healer of the group. A sudden beep alerted me that my attention was needed. I had an incoming video call from Melissa.

“Hey girl,” she said leaning over the granite counter of the island in her kitchen. Since college, her routine was to run early in the morning, shower, eat a small bowl of Greek yogurt and follow it with a cup of black coffee. Melissa was petite with long blonde tresses and blue eyes. Whereas I was curvy but not fat. Not one to like one particular hairstyle, I changed my hair according to the weather. Some days I let it hang long and straight and other days it was shampoo and wear.

“Did you read about what happened at one of the UFO encampments yet?” She sipped on her coffee.

“I just turned on Big Brother, my name for the T.V., since the telecommunication system tracked everything we did.”

“Violence broke out in Oakland, last night. You can’t do it,” she chided me.

Melissa was the only one I had told about my plan to find Sophia with the hope that she would be able to cure Charlie and me.

“Hold on, let me scan this article on the net,” I clicked on the headline—Violence Strikes the Unity for Oneness Movement in Oakland.

I began to read it out loud. “According to law enforcement, the Oakland encampment was raided based on confidential information indicating that organizers of the Unity for Oneness Movement (UFO) were harboring terrorists on site. Arriving on the scene, police demanded to see identification from those occupying a building believed to be the organization’s headquarters. A spokesman says it was at that time several young men bolted, leading police on a short-lived foot chase. Tear gas was dispersed and one young woman was trampled. Her condition is unknown.”

“You can’t get involved with this group to find this phantom healer. I can’t believe you’re doing this. It’s so out of character for you.” Melissa lectured me.

“There’s no proof of these miracle healings. My source of psychics and healers has never heard of her. She is not on the radar. If law enforcement can’t find her, how will you?”

“Remember a couple of weeks ago, one of my students, Tommy Fitzgerald wrote an article about the movement and the Magnificent Seven, the guys who were identified as terrorists and killed by the F.B.I. Well, I’m meeting him later today. He’s involved with the movement, and I think he might know where I can find Sophia.”

“I don’t know about this Serenity. I have this feeling that I can’t shake that you maybe opening Pandora’s Box,” Melissa took a sip of her coffee.

“I have to do this. Charlie told me to.” I shrugged.

“You know how involved I am in the Occult, but I always have to separate the real from the unreal. Charlie is severely autistic and you have to accept that. He can’t communicate with you. Do you know how you sound?

“What about telepathy?”

“Okay, so what else has he told you?”

I paused, “Nothing.”

“Get my point?”

“Wait, he told me to name his teddy bear, Mr. Thoth and something about some serpent people coming.” After I let out about the serpent people, I felt silly.

“Serpent people? Anything concrete?” She asked smugly, interrogating me as if I were a witness in one of her criminal cases. Melissa was a great defense attorney, climbing the ladder to partnership in a prestigious D.C. law firm.

“Nothing.” I exclaimed, shaking my head.

“There’s this healer, I can get an appointment for Charlie this evening.”

“I should have seen this coming.”

Before I could respond, Melissa put her face close to the monitor, turned her bottom lip down and cocked her head to the side and crossed her eyes. Something she used to do when we were kids to make others laugh and take the tension out of any situation.

“Okay, but you‘re going to pick us up and do all the driving.”

“No problem, oh by the way, the healer is Cuban and doesn’t speak that much English. I’ll be at your place at 6 p.m.” She clicked off.

Hearing the tingling of Mr. Thoth’s bell, I peeped out of my office. Charlie was standing in my bedroom doorway, looking innocently at me. His ragged brown bear, Mr. Thoth, was securely tucked under his arm. Maybe, I thought, Melissa is right; I shouldn't try to find Sophia, putting Charlie and myself in harm’s way.

About the AuthorJ.J. Michael is a professional numerologist, publisher, author and blogger. She is a lifelong student and teacher of Metaphysics and Spirituality. Through her writings, Ms. Michael promotes spiritual awareness, self-development, healing and world peace. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her family.